People in Phu Tho province join the credit incentive programme. Vietnam has been working on an inclusive finance system to serve all people in the country. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) urged the bankingindustry to build an inclusive finance system that serves all members ofsociety in Vietnam in Hanoi on September 10.
SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh told the industry's conference on the actionplan to serve the national financial strategy to 2025 that: “Theinclusive finance system needs to specify vulnerable groups, helpingthem access the financial system in a favourable manner.”
Considering an inclusive finance system, which serves all stakeholders ofsociety, as one of the important pillars in sustainable development in Vietnam,Anh said: “Such a system will contribute to creating livelihood opportunities,rotating investment capital flows and saving in society and promotingsustainable economic growth.”
She said the traditional economic growth model in other countries with the goalof rapid growth has gradually revealed its shortcomings when solving povertybut the increasing income inequality led to other political and socialinstability.
Thus, she said: “The overarching growth model towards long-term sustainability;in which, ensuring harmony between economic growth, social equityand environmental protection has become a common goal of all countries andregions.”
According to the central bank, inclusive finance has become a common visionaround the world. Up to now, more than 60 countries have developed andimplemented a comprehensive national financial strategy. Many countries havecome up with innovative solutions in financial technology, focusing on reducingcosts and improving the safety and convenience of financial services.
By that, the deputy governor said the system had contributed to improvingservice accessibility for people and businesses, especially those who havenever been served by banks.
To develop such a system in Vietnam, Anh asked the whole industry to develop aspecific plan to implement assigned tasks in the National Financial InclusionStrategies (NFIS), approved by the Prime Minister in January this year.
By 2015, NFIS set targets to have at least 80 percent of adults havingbank accounts or accounts with other authorised organisations, at least 20branches and transaction offices of commercial banks per 100,000 adults, atleast 50 percent of the total number of communes that have financialservice points, at least 25 percent to 30 percent of adultsdepositing at savings credit institutions.
Also at the conference, Anh told the central bank’s payment department to issuea decree to guide the electronic know your customer/client (e-KYC) in thecountry this month.
Getting the direction, head of the department Pham Tien Dung alsoadded the decree may define the cryptocurrencies in payment activities and thee-wallet term will be included in international payments.
They would also work on building local mobile money too, said Dung.
According to the payment department, the average growth rate of individualaccounts and the total balance in the account reached 10.26 percent and25.41 percent in 2015-19, respectively. It is expected there will be about70 percent of Vietnamese adults having a bank account by the end of this year.
As for the Government’s strong push, non-cash transactions have increasedsharply in recent years. In the first four months of the year, payments usingbank cards increased by 15.7 percent over the same period in 2019, said thedepartment./.
VNA
